When I think back to when I saw Star Wars for the first time in a theater in 1977, I often recall that the Cantina scenes contained some of the most memorable imagery. There were all these wonderfully crazy aliens, our introduction to Han Solo and Chewbacca, the over-zealous Greedo, the catchy music with the swinging band, a bar fight resulting in the loss of an arm, and so much more. All the TV shows and news programs aired clips from it constantly. However, even the most memorable scenes fall prey to the film’s mighty editors.
PULLING UP TO THE CANTINA
George Lucas wasn’t initially happy with the way Mos Eisley was introduced in Episode IV. For the film’s Special Edition, he refined what existed, and added new establishing shots of the spaceport city using computer graphics. This resulting scene depicted a more sprawling city where our heroes would embark on their grand adventure. According to the Lost Cut of Star Wars, after Ben Kenobi performs his successful mind trick on a stormtrooper, Luke’s landspeeder makes its way from the trooper checkpoint to the front door of the cantina in one long shot. With a scene like this, there are bound to be endless shots of people and traffic intercut with the existing single take to create the illusion of more distance from point A to point B. The Special Edition took this concept to another level, of course.
Video courtesy of Dylan McDermond
INSIDE THE CANTINA
According to the Lost Cut of Episode IV and the Behind the Magic CD-ROM there’s a completely different edit of the cantina scene, complete with original set sounds and voices, before dialogue replacement. For example, if you wanted to hear what the bartender originally sounded like on set, this is where you could hear his real voice. It was a rough edit to see how things flowed, but it could have ended up as the final edit. We don’t really know. Nonetheless, the first time George Lucas shot footage for this scene, he was unhappy with the results, so he scheduled a pick-up shoot, had some new creatures made, rebuilt the set, and shot as much extra footage as he could. This is why trivia buffs will tell you that two people played Greedo: Paul Blake (first shoot) and Maria DeAragon (pickups).
Not many people have seen the entire Lost Cut, but some of it has made been made public in various forms. One of the big surprises is that Han Solo is seen hanging out with (and making out with) a girl simply known as Jenny. This takes place while the confrontation with Luke and Ben is happening at the bar. It’s an interesting way to introduce a main character, but ultimately the way he was introduced in the theatrical version had more of an impact. Fandomwire.com has an interesting article on Jenny if you’re interested in learning more.
After Obi-Wan’s confrontation with Ponda Baba and Dr. Evazan, there is a different severed arm on the ground in the Lost Cut. This arm is the real arm of Ponda Baba or Walrus Man, if you prefer. In the theatrical version, the alien has cup-shaped hands that resemble paddles or big spoons. When the camera pans across the floor after one of his arms is severed by Kenobi’s lightsaber, we are instead treated to a hairy arm with fingers. Lucas even toyed with the notion of beheading Ponda Baba, as indicated in the photo below where you can clearly see the severed head and arm on the ground. Intense!
When the confrontation at the bar is over, Luke and Ben follow Chewbacca over to the booth where Han and Jenny are sitting. At this point, according to Dr. David West Reynolds’ Lost Cut summary, there’s a man who leaves the cantina in order to flag down some local authorities. In the final film, we never see the guy actually leaving the cantina, but we do see him flag down the stormtroopers outside. The snitch in this scene was played by stunt coordinator Peter Diamond, who played quite a few bit parts throughout the original trilogy.
Starwars.com posted something else about the little rodent-looking alien named Kabe:
The original screenplay for A New Hope describes a trio of assailants that accost Luke at the bar. In addition to Dr. Evazan and Ponda Baba, there was to have been “an even smaller rodent-like beast.” When the confrontation turns violent, the script says “the rodent is cut in two.” The finished film only shows Evazan and Baba in the altercation, but careful examination of the sequence shows that Evazan is talking to Kabe before the scuffle. This indicates the idea of them being allies lasted up until shooting.
Video courtesy of Dylan McDermond
That last quote makes it sound as if the concept of the “Three Stooges” had been abandoned during the making of the film. I’m not aware of any original source that ever indicated otherwise before this EU retcon conjecture came into the world. Just because “Kabe” didn’t get mutilated by Kenobi doesn’t indicate he wasn’t part of the trio (he probably didn’t alert the sandtrooper police because he carried himself a few death sentences).
I’d say not only did the EU creators fail to research and acknowledge that “Dr. Evazan” was actually the “small-time punk Roofoo” (Han Solo in the ANH radio drama, George Lucas Canon unless contradicted by the actual film) but they also missed the fact that Roofoo, “Ponda Baba” and that little rat were a team.
RET-conned conjecture.